Transfer press system



M rch 5. 969 I NAONORITANIGUCHI ,ETAL 3,434,323

TRANSFER PRESS SYSTEM Filed Dec. 6, 1966 Sheet of 5 M r h 5, 969 NAONORI TANlGUCHl ET 3,434,328

TRANSFER PRESS SYSTEM Filed Dec. 6, 1966 Sheet 2 of 5 March 25, 1969 NAONORI TANIGUCHI ET AL 3,434,323

TRANSFER PRESS SYSTEM Filed Dec. 6, 1966 Sheet 3 of 5 TRANSFER PRESS SYSTEM Filed Dec. 6, 1966 Sheet WRN NAONORI TANIGUCHI ET AL 3 ,328

TRANSFER PRESS SYSTEM March 25, 1969 Sheet 5 of5 Filed Dec. 6. 1966 United States Patent ()fiice 3,434,328 Patented Mar. 25, 1969 3,434,328 TRANSFER PRESS SYSTEM Naouori Taniguchi and Akira Wachi, Sagamihara-shi, Kanagawa-ken, Japan, assignors to Kabushiki Kaisha jaida Teklrosho, Kanagawa-ken, Japan, a company of Filed Dec. 6, 1966, Ser. No. 599,545 Claims priority, application Japan, Dec. 6, 1965, 40/99,404; June 27, 1966, ll/60,202 Int. Cl. B21j 13/00 US. Cl. 72--405 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A transfer press system for treating a blank in progressive stages in a desired processing operation and which system includes a plurality of press units arranged in an aligned row and each including a framework, a separate bed unit common to all the press units, a separate transfer unit including common feed bars operably connected to the bed unit for successively transferring an intermediate product from the first press unit to the succeeding press units, connecting means individually connecting the framework of each press unit to the common bed unit and connecting means also connecting the transfer unit to said bed unit.

The present invention relates to a transfer press system, and more particularly to a unit-type transfer press system in which a plurality of press units are arranged in an aligned row and a first stage intermediate product which has been processed in the first press unit is successively transferred to the succeeding press units in which the intermediate product is subjected to progressive stages of treatment in the desired processing operation.

In one of the conventional transfer press systems, a plurality of press units are successively connected in an aligned row by means of a plurality of feed devices each of which had a bed integrally connected thereto. Such a conventional transfer press system is objectionable in that the system required a substantially large area for the installation of all of the press units and the zone for supervision of the operation of such press units was necessarily extended over an approximately wide area.

In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of press units are operably connected to a common bed unit and a common transfer unit is operably connected to the bed unit so that the length of the entire transfer press system can be substantially shortened and the area required for the installation of the system reduced, and the zone for supervision of the operation of the press units narrowed.

Moreover, the level alignment between each adjacent press unit which has been difiicult in the prior art transfer press systems, can be easily achieved. In addition, by mechanically driving a common transfer and feed mechanism from the press units, the frequency of the feed stroke of the transfer and feed mechanism per unit time can be increased and the operation efliciency improved.

Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a transfer press system which comprises a plurality of press units successively arranged in an aligned row and in which the first press unit of the plurality of press units can simultaneously perform both the material blanking and drawing operations in a single step whereby the number of press units required for performing a desired processing operation can be reduced thus resulting in reduction of the area for the installation of the entire transfer press system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a transfer press system in which the bed units and feed bars having lengths corresponding to those of two, three and four press units may be suitable connected to each other in any desired combination depending upon the number of press units employed.

According to the present invention, the unit-type transfer press system comprises a plurality of press units operably connected to each other and arranged in an aligned row, a separate common bed unit operably connected to said press units, and a separate transfer unit including common feed bars operably connected to the bed unit for successively transferring an intermediate product from the first press unit to the succeeding press units, each press unit having a framework, connecting means for individually connecting the framework of each of said press units to the common bed unit and connecting means also connecting the transfer unit to the bed unit.

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred form of transfer press system in accordance with the present invention,

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of the transfer press system as viewed from the right hand side of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of the transfer press system as viewed from the left hand side of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of the transfer press system shown in FIGURE 1 with certain parts thereof being in cross section,

FIGURES 5a, 5b, 5c and 5d are vertical sectional views of a product as processed in the first, second, third and fourth press units, respectively,

FIGURE 6 is an elevational view of the transfer press system as viewed from the right hand side of FIGURE 1 showing particularly the connecting means for securing the bed unit to the framework of one press unit,

FIGURE 7 is a view of the first press unit substantially taken along the line VII-VII of FIGURE 1 and being on a larger scale, and

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7, but illustrating the conditions of the elements of the first press unit after one cycle of blanking and drawing operation.

Although the present invention will be hereinafter described in connection with the manufacture of cup-shaped products, the invention can be equally applied to the manufacture of other types of products by the selection of particular dies depending upon the types of products to be manufactured.

The present invention will be now described referring to the accompanying drawings in which a prefered form of the present unit-type transfer press system is shown for illustrative purposes only.

The system generally comprises a plurality of press units A A A and A arranged in side-by-side relationship and in alignment with an equal space or hiatus between adjacent units. An elongated box-shaped common bed unit B is disposed in front of the four press units and extends along the lower portions of the press units. The bed unit B is secured by means of tie bolts E to the frameworks of the press units, and a common transfer unit C is operably connected to the bed unit B.

The number of the press units and the type of dies to be employed in conjunction with the press units may be suitably selected depending upon the number of processing stages involved in one cycle of operation and the nature of the operation to be performed. The system is so designed that a first stage intermediate product M (FIGURE 5a) which has been formed by simultaneously blanking out of a length of coiled strip blank material and drawing the blank, is successively transferred by the transfer unit C to the second, third and fourth press units A A and A; respectively, in which the first stage intermediate product M is subjected to the subsequent stages to result in a second stage intermediate product N (FIGURE 5b), a third stage intermediate product (FIGURE 50), and finally a complete product P (FIG- URE d).

The press unit A may be of the type adapted to receive a supply of coiled strip blank from a suitable supply source (not shown) through a roll-type feed unit D and which can simultaneously blank and draw the blank to a desired size of circular blank and draw the blank to a shallow cup shape. This press unit is shown in FIG- URES 7 and 8 and the details of the construction and operation of the press unit A will be explained hereinafter. The feed unit D may be of any suitable convention type. For example, the feed unit may be of the type which comprises a pair of superimposed feed rolls r and r (FIGURE 3) adapted to be driven from a transmission mechanism, such as one including a pneumatically operated piston, a rack and a cooperating pinion.

The transfer unit C, which is adapted to successively transfer a first stage intermediate product obtained from the first press unit A through the second and third press units A and A to the fourth press unit A drives via suitable mechanisms a pair of parallel and spaced feed bars 1 and 1 having a plurality of axially spaced grip fingers 2 and 2' respectively. The grip fingers 2 and 2 on the bars 1 and 1 are directed toward each other in an opposed relationship with the free ends thereof being spaced apart. The transfer unit imparts to the feed bars 1 and 1 such a feed movement that two loci are obtained as shown in FIGURE 4, that is, the loci recur in the arrow directions represented by abc-d-a and a'-b' c'd'a, respectively. Such a feed movement per se is known in the transfer press art and any suitable mechanisms may be employed as the feed mechanism. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIGURE 4, the feed bars 1 and 1' have the movements a-b, a-b' and c-d, c'-d' imparted thereto as a disc 7 alternately rotates through 180 in one direction and the other direction and the disc is connected by links 6 and 6' to guide blocks 5 and 5'. The guide blocks in turn are supported on guide bars 4 fixedly secured to a housing 3 in turn connected to bed unit B by tie bolts. The feed bars 1 and 1 are also supported by guide blocks and 10' respectively which fit on guides 9 guided by further stationary guide bars 8 and 8' respectively. The bars 8 and 8' are fixedly secured to the housing 3 and impart the movements b-c, b'c' and a-d, a'd' as the guides 9 are reciprocated in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIGURE 4. The feed bars 1 and 1' are supported at points adjacent to and inwardly of the forward end portions (the left ends as seen in FIGURE 4) by guide blocks 5a and Sa and such guide blocks are slidably supported on guide bars 4a. The bars 4a are fixedly secured to a smaller housing 3a which is in turn fixedly mounted on the bed unit B by means such as tie bolts 4'. The guide blocks 5a and S'a are connected by links 6a and 6'a to a second disc 7a. The disc 7a is adapted to be alternately rotated through 180 in one direction and the other direction in synchronization with the movement of the first disc 7 from the driving portion of the disc 7 through a transmission means 3e which equalizes the movement of the discs 7 and 7a. The guide blocks 5a, 5a are driven in equalization and synchronization with the movement of the guide blocks 5, 5 whereby the forward end portions of the feed bars 1 and 1 move toward and away from each other in equalization of such movement of the rearward end portions thereof (the right end portions as seen in FIG- URE 4).

Means for securing the bed unit B to the respective press units A A A and A are shown in FIGURE 6 and while this figure discloses the manner in which the bed unit B is secured to the fourth press unit A such arrangement is equally applicable to the other three press units A A and A More specifically, transverse tie bolts E (only one of which is shown in FIGURE 6) extends through framework 11 of the press unit A; and framework 12 of the bed unit B with the opposite ends thereof extending beyond the respective frameworks. Nuts 13 and 14 are threaded on the extended opposite ends of the tie bolts B so that the press unit and bed unit can be tightly secured to each other by drawing up the nuts. When the front wall of the framework 11 and the rear wall of the framework 12 are connected by auxiliary screws 15, the press unit A; and bed unit B can be secured to each other with more firmness or strength.

As mentioned above, the first press unit A is adapted to simultaneously blank and draw a length of coiled strip blank and the construction of this press unit is more clearly shown in FIGURES 7 and 8. The press unit generally comprises an overhead slide 21 and a bolster 22 diagrammatically shown by dot-dash lines disposed below the slide. A holder 23 for supporting an annular upper die 24 therein carried by and depends from the slide 21 for movement therewith. A product ejecting member 25 is housed within the annular die 24 for vertical movement therein and the member 25 is normally biased downwardly by a spring 25. The downward movement of the ejecting member is restricted by an upper flange on the member 25 engaging an inner annular shoulder 24 on the die 24. The upper end of the spring 25' is lodged in a recess formed in the bottom surface of the holder 23 and the lower end in a recess in the upper surface of the member 25.

A lower die holder 26 is fixedly supported by suitable means (not shown) on the bolster 22 and a lower die unit is received in an opening provided in the holder 26. The lower die unit comprises an annular outer die 27 and an inner die 28 of smaller diameter received within an opening in the outer die 27 in spaced relation to the peripheral wall defining the opening. A blank holder 29 is disposed in the space between the outer and inner dies 27 and 28 for vertical movement within the space. The blank holder 29 is held upwardly by vertical legs 30 which are in turn supported at their opposite ends on a vertically movable platform 31. The platform 31 is fitted on a convex member 32' integrally formed with a conventional die cushion 32. A cylinder 33 is provided in the center of the bottom surface of the platform 31 and receives a piston 34, the lower end of which is secured to the die cushion 32. The cylinder 33 communicates with a pressurized fluid passage 35 which in turn communi cates through a pressurized fluid supply conduit 36 with an electromagnetic valve 36 and such a valve is in communication via the supply conduit 36 with a suitable pressurized fluid supply source (not shown).

A stripper 37 is fixedly mounted on the die 27 in spaced relation to the upper surface of the lower die 26 to define a passage 38 therebetween and in which the strip blank will pass. The stripper 37 serves for preventing a processed strip from being raised together with the upper die 24 as the latter die is moved upwardly.

The operation of the first press unit A will be now described with reference to FIGURE 7.

After the strip blank is fed into the strip blank supply passage 38 perpendicularly to the plane of FIGURE 7, the slide 21 is caused to move downwardly by any suitable drive means (not shown) which is in turn connected to any suitable power source (not shown). As the slide 21 moves downwardly, the upper die 24 also moves downwardly to blank a circular blank L (FIGURE 5a) out of strip blank material K (FIGURE 5a) in cooperation with the die 27 and at the same time the annular portion adjacent to the outer peripheral edge of the blank L is drawn to the shape shown by reference M (FIGURE 5a), since the die 24 enters the annular space between the 5 dies 27 and 28 with the blank interposed therebetween while the blank holder 29 is displaced downwardly against the action of the die cushion 32.

After the blank L has been drawn to the first stage intermediate product M and as the upper die 24 rises from the limit of its lowermost movement, the stripper 37 effectively prevents the remaining portion of the strip blank material (scrap) from being lifted by such upward movement of the upper die. In this situation, the blank holder 29 is urged to the position shown in FIGURE 7 by the die cushion 32 as the upper die 24 moves upwardly. At the same time, electromagnetic valve 36' is actuated to allow pressurized fluid to pass into the cylinder 33, thus moving upwardly the platform 31 and the first stage intermediate product M which has been blanked and drawn in the first press unit A is now supported on the blank holder 29 and is elevated to the extent that the lower end of the intermediate product clears the upper surface of the stripper 37 as shown in FIGURE 8. With this position of the first stage intermediate product clears the upper surface of the stripper 37 as shown in FIGURE 8. With this position of the first stage intermediate product M, a selected pair of opposite grip fingers 2 and 2' of the plural pairs of grip fingers on the feed bars 1 and 1' grip the intermediate product M therebetween and the grip fingers move in the direction of the arrow (FIGURE 8) while gripping the intermediate product so that the intermediate product is transferred from the first press unit A to the second processing zone defined by the second press unit A After the processing of the first stage intermediate product M in the second press unit A the intermediate product becomes the second stage intermediate product N (FIGURE 5b) and is then moved to the third processing zone defined by the third press unit A in the manner as described above. Thereafter, the second stage product N is subjected to the next processing operation in the third processing Zone to become a third stage intermediate product (FIGURE 50). The third stage intermediate product 0 is then moved into the fourth or last processing zone defined by the fourth press unit A, as above described and processed to a final or desired product P (FIGURE 5d).

When a cup-shaped product or the like was processed by the use of any of the conventional transfer press system, the flat blank strip was first blanked to a predetermined flat circular shape and then drawn to a first stage intermediate cup-shape product in the second press.

0n the other hand, according to the present transfer press system, as mentioned hereinabove, since the first press unit can perform simultaneously both the blanking and drawing operations, the number of press units to be employed in such a transfer press system can be reduced.

The invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to the showings in the drawings but changes or modifications may be made therein so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A unit-type transfer press system comprising a plurality of press units operably connected to each other and arranged in an aligned row, a separate common bed unit operably connected to said press units, and a separate transfer unit including common feed bars operably connected to said bed unit for successively transferring an intermediate product from the first press unit to the succeeding press units, each press unit having a framework, connecting means for individually connecting the framework of each of said press units to said common bed unit and connecting means also connecting said transfer unit to said bed unit.

2. The unit-type transfer press system as set forth in claim 1, in which the connecting means for individually connecting the framework of each of said press units to said common bed unit are defined by tie bolts.

3. The unit-type transfer press system as set forth in claim 1, including a pair of spaced housings each of which houses a drive mechanism for said feed bars of the transfer unit and tie bolts connecting said housings to said bed unit.

4. The unit-type transfer press system as set forth in claim 1, in which said bed unit comprises a plurality of beds connected to each other and arranged in an aligned row extending a distance corresponding to the length of said aligned press units.

5. The unit-type transfer press system as set forth in claim 1, in which the first press unit of said plurality of press units simultaneously performs both the material blanking and drawing operations in a single step.

6. The unit-type transfer press system as set forth in claim 5, in which for simultaneously performing said material blanking and drawing operations in a single step, said first press unit comprises a slide, :an annular upper die supported by said slide, a bolster, annular lower outer and inner dies mounted on said bolster, a blank holder disposed between said outer and inner lower dies, a vertically movable platform on which said blank holder is supported and fluid pressure means for moving said platform vertically.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RONALD D. GREFE, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 72-421 

